The economy of Russia pulled off a negative maneuver

The Russian economy returned to the area insufficiently favorable business climate, says the report of the Center for business research at the Higher school of Economics (HSE), which is at the disposal “of the Tape.ru”.

Negative trends says the index of economic sentiment calculated by the authors based on several indicators. Taking into account the situation in industry, Commerce, services, construction, and consumer behavior. In the second quarter of 2018, the value of the index after two years of growth declined by 0.9 points to the 99.2.

Classification HSE this means that the Russian economy returned to the area insufficiently favorable business climate, which came in the first quarter. The boundary between favorable and unfavorable climate is just on the mark of one hundred points.

According to the Director of the Center for business research, George Ostapkovich, deterioration of the business climate is quite unexpected, and “notable macroeconomic preconditions for such a negative maneuver was not observed.”

The reasons the authors of the report called weak investment and consumer demand for products and services, growth of inflation expectations (including due to the increase in fuel prices and expectations of higher VAT), and the growth of the overall uncertainty regarding the economic situation in the country. The last factor, according to Ostapkovich, puts pressure on construction and industry.

Fell also the separate indexes calculated for sectors of the economy: industry, construction, retail trade, sphere of services.

The authors are optimistic about the future of the Russian economy. “Based on our forecasts of survey participants in the short term, it can be assumed that in the third and fourth quarters of this year, the situation in the mining industry, construction and services will improve and, consequently, IAN’s 2018 again, maybe go into a zone favorable business climate,” the report said.